Not that Cornell fans would ever stuff the ballot box ...
Poll up at USCHO asks which team has most exceeded expectations this year. http://www.uscho.com/
UMass-Lowell
Cornell
BU
Denver
NMU
Colgate
Colorado College
Harvard
Don't Know [so why take the poll?]
Right now it's in the above order, UMass-Lowell 32%, Cornell 20%, BU 11%.
Do we really want to brag that expectations were so low for us?
Who's bragging? It's the truth. Go look at TBRW?'s page of pre-season polls, and you'll see only the coaches and TBRW? got it right if we finish with an ECAC first seed and a top poll position.
Beeeej
That would be this page: http://www.tbrw.info/2005/polls/2005_preseason.html
As you can see, I never did find the SI or NHL.com pre-season NCAA predictions. If anybody comes across them, please send the url. Thanks.
In looking, I did, however, find this man's column: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/darren_eliot/02/17/nhl.future/index.html
I think Harvard. They were expected to take a significant drop by many. They just got better.
It's too bad Vermont isn't on this poll. I was all prepared to send them off to Hockey Least as a cellar dwellar, now they enter the final league weekend controlling their own destiny for a first-round bye.
Their performance this year also probably gives Kevin Sneddon the ECAC COY award. :-/